New upscale Latin restaurants find broader audience among U.S. diners

Nation's Restaurant News,  Feb 19, 2007  by Ron Ruggless

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A wave of new Latin restaurants is washing South American and Caribbean flavors into a wider geographic area and to a broader public.

Wapango in the St. Louis area, created by the owners of Cozymel's Coastal Cuisine of Dallas, has had Missourians dining to a Latin beat since last fall. DeLaCosta, a 12,000-square-foot Nuevo Latino restaurant from Florida chef Douglas Rodriguez, has taken Chicago by storm since it opened last September. And in Oregon, Andina Restaurant in Portland has brought Peruvian cuisine to the Pacific Northwest.

The staples of the Latin table beyond Mexico are proving to be as hot as a habanero pepper among new U.S. restaurants, bringing plantains, ceviches, empanadas and moles into the mainstream far from the southern borders where such fare has long been commonplace. Brazilian churrascaria chains, such as Fogo de Chao and Texas de Brazil, also are fueling the Latin expansion.

For restaurant owners, Latin food provides a broad canvas.

"We saw an opportunity for carte blanche," said John Gianoulis, operating partner with Todd Wyatt of Wapango in St. Louis. "There are so many things you can do when you call yourself a pan-Latin experience. It opens up so many doors. Latin cooking has so many different influences that you can take the menu in pretty much any direction you want, and you are going to be true to form. You have all these countries of South America, Central America and the Caribbean that you can pull from."

The 7,300-square-foot Wapango opened last September in suburban Chesterfield, Mo., just west of St. Louis. Jack Baum, whose 12-unit Dallas-based Cozymel's Mexican Grill developed the concept, said pan-Latin concepts can provide a more upscale market than typical Mexican formats.

"If we want to move upstream from Mexican, maybe one of the ways to do that is to introduce some of the things from South America, Central America and Cuba," Baum said. "That's a niche and category that hasn't had enough attention paid to it yet. It's becoming hot now."

Since Rodriguez, who also created Alma de Cuba in Philadelphia and Ola in Miami, opened the doors of 12,000-square-foot DeLaCosta last September, it has become one of Chicago's hottest eateries. USA Today called it the city's "splashiest fall opening." DeLaCosta joined Chicago's line of Latin-influenced favorites, including Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises' Nacional 27 and Jerry Kleiner's Carnivale.

Other cities have more recent Latin offerings as well. There's Calle Ocho on New York's Upper West Side. And hybrids are taking root in Florida--fertile ground for Latin restaurants because of its large immigrant population. For instance, Tambo Restaurant & Lounge in Coral Gables mixes Peruvian and Japanese cuisines.

"If you look at the introduction of other ethnic cuisines in the American market, whether it be Thai or Vietnamese, they have taken place in the large immigration from those countries who come and settle in communities and start mom-and-pop restaurants," said Peter Platt, whose family owns Andina Restaurant in Portland, Ore. "In our case, there isn't much of a Peruvian community in Portland to create the demand or buzz. The food is the ambassador for the culture."

The three-and-a-half-year-old restaurant, whose name translates to "woman from the Andes"--Platt's mother, Doris Rodriguez de Platt, is Peruvian--has built an audience from up and down the West Coast.

"What attracts people to the Latin culture in general is the warmth and hospitality," Platt said. "We do our best to create a service experience that reflects that."

Platt said he plans to expand the 4,000-square-foot Andina, which currently seats 180. He said U.S. diners have embraced Andina's Peruvian cuisine, especially the ceviches and the Peruvian lamb with potato croquettes.

"I knew if we introduced it at a high level, it would do well. And it has," Platt said.

While older Latin-inspired restaurants have shown longevity, such as Samba Room and Bossa, both owned by e-Brands Restaurants of Orlando, Fla., and with locations in Dallas, Houston, Denver, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Orlando, the new restaurants are going into areas with little or no Latin base.

"People are very curious about cuisines they aren't familiar with," said Baum of Wapango, "so one of the things we have on the menu is called the 'Carnival.' It's a 36-inch-by-3-inches board made out of sorghum wood that's covered with a food-safe polyurethane. We give people a sample of seven different items on the menu. We say it's a shared appetizer, but there are people who come in for lunch and share one. We charge $9 per person. We can make it up for two to four people.

Gianoulis said the Chesterfield market--with an average household income of $126,000--provided insight into how upscale diners would accept a Latin focus.

"We didn't know how people in St. Louis would receive it," Gianoulis said. "They've really taken to it well."